help in other ways to improve emotional
engagement and promote eye contact
or language development through play
with toys, early babbling and nonverbal
gestures,” says Dawson.

Interventions for older children

When ASD is diagnosed in school-age children or teens, it is a lifelong
condition. At this stage, the brain is
more developed and intervention
becomes more complex. There are
far fewer studies of ASD in school-age children and teens, but a roundup
of the latest findings showed that
intervention could improve an older
child’s social competence and peer
relationships, too.(Current Opinion
in Pediatrics, Dawson, et al. 2011).

In particular, “friendship training”
enhanced the emotional development
of children age 7 to 12 and their ability
to have empathy. Older children
with ASD also can make strides in
communication, adaptive behavior
and cognitive abilities, although
the improvements have not been as
dramatic as in preschoolers with ASD
who received interventions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy
combined with social skills instruction
has proven successful in reducing anxiety
(a common co-morbidity in ASD) and
aggression in some high-functioning
teens and adults with autism. For autistic
children with intellectual disabilities,
systematic desensitization was the
more effective therapy for anxiety
(Developmental Neurorehabilitation,
Lang, et al. 2010). For treating aggressive
behavior, one study (Journal of Child
and Adolescent Psychopharmacology,
Frazier, et al. 2010) found that
combining behavioral interventions
with antipsychotic medication is more
effective than using medication alone.

Future research needs to compare a
variety of treatments for older children
with ASD, Dawson says. In addition,
there needs to be long-term follow-up to
determine what may be needed to sustain
any gains throughout the person’s life.

Perhaps the largest gap in autismresearch, programs and services pertainsto adults with the condition. TheNational Institute for Health and ClinicalExcellence, in association with TheNational Health Service in England andWales, took the step of issuing clinicalguidelines this year on the referral,diagnosis and management of autism inadults. The document for physicians andother health-care professionals providesa clinical pathway of care for adultswith ASD, including when a diagnosticassessment is warranted.

Many more new studies on autism
are likely as funding for ASD research
increases. The Interactive Autism
Network (IAN) created by the Kennedy
Krieger Institute is facilitating the
collection of autism data with an online
registry ( http://ianproject.org) that
includes information from 43,000 people
with ASD or their family members.

Earlier this year, a study in the

Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders (Daniels) authenticated the
IAN database participants and validated
their responses on questionnaires. This
means researchers can use the network
with confidence, says Ericka Wodka,
PhD, a pediatric neuropsychologist at
the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center
for Autism and Related Disorders. She
believes the data can accelerate autism
breakthroughs and make research more
cost-effective and efficient. More than

500 studies have already drawn data
from the network or used it to recruit
families for their own studies. “
Online-based research is good for families, too,
because they can participate in their
own homes and on their own time,” says
Wodka.

Meanwhile, other psychologists
are excited by research focused on
determining which treatments are best
for children at different developmental
stages. “Brain research will help us
learn how to individualize treatment so
we can tailor it to each child,” UCSD’s
Schreibman says. n